The concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) refers to a world in which every-day physical objects are embedded with sensors and actuators, and are linked to the Internet through wired or wireless networks such that data can be readily gathered, communicated and analysed, and that events can be readily responded to with minimal human intervention. In the era of IoT, physical objects can represent themselves digitally in the physical world to interact with other objects, thereby transforming the physical world into a huge information system. In one important aspect, IoT requires interconnection of various heterogeneous devices (laptops, smartphones, tablets, sensors, actuators, etc.), and the heterogeneity of these devices dictates the heterogeneity of the network and their application requirements.
FIG. 1 shows an exemplary smart home network 100 in one IoT application. As shown in FIG. 1, the network 100 includes a surveillance camera 102, a smart lamp 104, a smart air-conditioner 106, and a smoke detector 108 that are in wired or wireless connection with a smart home gateway 112 (i.e., an access point), in the same house 150. The access point 112 is in turn connected to a remote information handling system 110 through the internet 114. Network 100 enables video surveillance and measurement of the home environment. In network 100, there exist two types of traffic flows with different service requirements, namely inelastic (or real-time) data flow and elastic (or non-real-time) data flow.
Inelastic data flow (e.g., video flow) generally has larger frame sizes and more stringent requirements in bandwidth and delay. In network 100, surveillance camera 102 is in inelastic data flow with the access point 112. Surveillance camera 102 transmits surveillance video to the access point 112, allowing user to remotely view the video, for example through the remote information handling system 110, to monitor the home environment. These videos consume a wide bandwidth and should be delivered in real-time.
On the other hand, elastic data flow generally has smaller frame sizes and more flexible requirements in bandwidth and delay. In network 100, one or more of the smart lamp 104, the smart air-conditioner 106, and the smoke detector 108 are in elastic data flow with the access point 112. In one example, the smart lamp 104 and the smart air-conditioner 106 transmit non-real-time home environment information, such as temperature and luminance measured by their own built-in sensors, to access point 112. The access point 112 may, in response, transmit control commands to the lamp 104 and the air-conditioner 106 for adjusting corresponding parameter settings based on the received information. In this case, the amount of data that needs to be transmitted may vary based on a variation of temperature and luminance in the environment.
In a network with limited bandwidth and where these elastic and inelastic data flows coexist, it is desirable to economically allocate bandwidth in a simple and efficient manner.